*** January 2015 – The place has since added on a little cosy corner ‘canteen’ for you to sit down and enjoy the kuih and home cooked food. The place is now known as Moh Teng Pheow Nyonya Koay & Canteen.

Nyonya Kuih can be found in most of the wet market around Georgetown. They come in many different texture, shapes and multi colored. They are mostly steamed with some deep fried and baked.

I got to enjoy some freshly made kuih at Kuih Nyonya Moh Teng Pheow located in Jalan Mesjid, Off Chulia Street. The owner, Mr Mook and his family has been making the Nyonya Kuihs and supplying them to kuih peddlers for many years in Penang but nowadays they just cater to the hotels and directly walk-in customers.

This is a colorful platter of diamond shaped pieces of Nyonya Kuih and they are really very delicious.

They were preparing several kuihs on that day and it was indeed a privilege for me to see the making process. Most of the item is steamed but this Kuih Bengka is baked. The liquid mixture is stirred continuously by an electric mixer under a fire. Once the batter is smooth and thickens, it is poured into a metal tin lined with banana leaves for baking. The finished product has a surrounding burnt crust.

Kuih Talam has two layers, green and white. The bottom green layer is made of green pea flour with fresh pandan juice. The topping is a white layer of rice flour and fresh santan (coconut milk). The combination of the sweet green layer and the white coconut layer is just perfect…sweetish and slightly salty.

Kuih Serimuka is also a two layered kuih but unlike the Kuih Talam, it has a bottom layer of steamed glutinous rice. The top green layer with a custard texture is made with pandan juice.

The Kuih Lapis makes up of alternating white and pink layers. It’s quite a long procedure and time consuming with each layer adding on after the previous layer is cooked. This Kuih Lapis has nine layers which makes it a lovable item among children as they like to eat it by peeling of layer by layer. I am sure some of you would have done that before.

The final top layer (pic on the right) has a richer orange color

Kuih Lapis also known as nine layer rice cake

Another favorite of mine is the Pulut Tekan (glutinous blue rice). The steamed glutinous rice is added with coconut milk with part of it colored blue (traditionally by the juice from the bunga telang). The rice is then poured into a wooden box laid with banana leaves which is then left pressed down (tekan) with a heavy stone.

When cooled the whole block of Pulut Tekan is cut into diamond shaped pieces. It is yummyliciously good with a thick spread of their homemade Kaya (coconut jam with pandan leaves). The kaya spread is for sale too!

Banana leaves gives an aromatic aroma to the kuih

Huat Kuih is also known as Fatt Koh in Cantonese. This steamed rice cake is very fluffy and has the aroma of ‘tuak’ (alcohol beverage from the sap of coconut palm).

Curry Puff needs a long period of time to prepare as it needs to go through much procedure to get the layers of crust. The family members manually rolled the dough, with adding in the potato filling and folding in the sides. Click here for more photos.

Many times folding of the dough is needed in order to get the ‘ring’ look

Deep fried curry puffs with layers of crispy skin and the ‘ring’ look

This is another popular deep-fried item, the Poh Piah Chee (spring roll) with filling of turnip. I did not get to see the preparation as it was done earlier. Penangites love to have their Poh Piah Chee dip into hot fish base assam laksa soup.

Do drop by this place for your supply of sweet and savory Nyonya Kuih and snacks. The outlet caters for all occasions and functions. Click here for the Map Location. The shop is located behind Sky Cafe, famous for their roast meat.

Kuih Nyonya Moh Teng Pheow
Jalan Mesjid (Off Chulia Street)
Penang

Tel : 04 2615832 & 012 4152677

Closed on Monday

* This article was also published in the New Straits Times on 9th April 2010.

Hi ! CK , thanks to your blog , we tried this nyonya kueh last sunday , my wife really love it ! we are from Ipoh , we use to travel to penang for a day trip food hunt , and with info from yr blog , it is so much easier now . Big thank you and keep us posted in future !

bump in this site…..really an eye opening on the photo for the tedious kuih making process…
i love to eat nyonya kuih alot and can’t really find a good one in penang so far…still miss the yummy morning nyonya stall at Jonker Street, Malacca.

It looks nice but taste ok only. Not as good as the another traditional nyonya kuih that i ate from penang which near by a shopping mall called GAMA. Even my parents and relatives suggested me to there rather than the place u mentioned. but anyway i like kuih. thx for sharing.

[…] without a car some of the more distant food courts were tricky to reach. I found an article about Kuih Nyonya Moh Teng Pheow and we visited twice. The first time we were too early, the second time too late (assuming they […]

Thank you for all your fabulous recommendations on Penang’s Best Food. I’ve tried out a number of them and am very happy to learn of their existence:-)))

Talking about Nyonya Kuehs, can you please recommend me the best Stall(s) who sell the best Nyonya Dumplings in Pg? This type of dumpling is very different from our popular Meat Dumpling (Bacang) as it contains Sweet melon strips and small bites of marinated meat a la Nyonya. Really love this type of dumpling.

Thanks again for all your interesting articles. Hope you can help me to locate this rare “Nyonya dumpling in Pg!!

Please beware that this shop is extremely unhygienic with dogs roaming freely in the cooking and food preparation area. I just had the kuih talam and pulut tekan and had a bad case of food poisoning. The proprietor also advised me that he no longers uses bunga telang for the blue colour, it’s all colouring now. The santan in kuih talam tasted funky and definitely the cause of my food poisoning. So proceed to this shop with caution!

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About C.K. Lam

Armed with a camera and a huge appetite, this writer and columnists has been combing for the best gastronomical delights besides promoting Penang cuisines, culture and heritage since 2007. The articles are read both in print and online.